Concessions
You may be entitled to a concession on your energy bill.
Energy Concessions
The Department of Health & Human Services (DHHS) offers a variety of concessions and benefits to eligible cardholders to assist low-income Victorians with their energy bills. If you have a relevant concession card, you may be eligible for one of these concessions.
For more information contact the Concessions Information Line on 1800 658 521 (toll-free) or visit; www.dhs.vic.gov.au/concessions
For information about what concessions you are entitled to. Click here
This page contains information about the following concessions:
- Life Support Concession
- Medical Cooling Concession
- Service to Property Charge Concession
- Controlled Load Electricity Concession
- Annual Electricity Concession
- Winter Gas Concession
- Excess Gas Concession
- Transfer Fee Waiver Concession
- Utility Relief Grant Scheme
The Life Support Concession
The Life Support Concession provides a quarterly discount on electricity and/or water bills where a household member uses an eligible life support machine. This concession is available to both renters and homeowners all year round.
For electricity bills, the discount is equal to the cost of 1,880 kilowatt hours (470 kilowatt hours per quarter) of electricity used each year.
To be eligible cardholders must hold one of the following cards:
- Pensioner Concession Card
- Health Care Card
- Veterans’ Affairs Gold Card.
Qualifying machines
Qualifying machines are those that use at least 1,880 kilowatt hours per annum. Machines already approved are:
- Intermittent peritoneal dialysis machines
- Oxygen concentrators
- Haemodialysis machines
Most continuous positive airways pressure (CPAP) machines do not meet this threshold.
For other machines, please contact the Concessions Information Line on 1800 658 521 (toll-free) to discuss your application.
How to apply
Contact the Concessions Information Line on 1800 658 521 (toll-free).
Contact the Concessions Information Line on 1800 658 521 or download the PDF application form from the bottom of this page.
Application forms need to be completed and signed by your doctor, nurse or hospital social worker confirming your use of a life support machine.
Once completed, forward the form to GloBird by either Email or Post and we will check your concession card details with Centrelink, when confirmed we will apply the discount to your bill.
Medical cooling concessions
The Medical Cooling Concession provides a 17.5 per cent discount on summer electricity costs for cardholders where a member of the family has a medical condition that affects the body’s ability to regulate temperature. This concession is available from 1 November to 30 April each year.
The concession is given in addition to the Annual Electricity Concession.
To be eligible cardholders must hold one of the following cards:
- Pensioner Concession Card
- Health Care Card
- Veterans’ Affairs Gold Card.
Qualifying conditions
Qualifying conditions include:
- Multiple sclerosis
- Lymphoedema
- Parkinson’s disease
- Fibromyalgia
- Post-polio syndrome/poliomyelitis
- Motor neurone disease
Applications for other conditions must be approved by the Department of Human Services.
How to apply
Contact the Concessions Information Line on 1800 658 521 (toll-free) or download the PDF application form from the bottom of this page.
The application form needs to be completed and signed by your doctor confirming your medical condition.
Once completed, forward the form to GloBird by either Email or Post and we will check your concession card details with Centrelink, when confirmed we will apply the discount to your bill.
The Service to Property Charge Concession
The service to property charge concession provides a discount on the electricity service charge where a household has very low electricity usage. The usage charge must be less than the service charge. The discount reduces the service charge to the cost of the total electricity usage for the billing period.
To be eligible cardholders must hold one of the following cards:
- Pensioner Concession Card
- Health Care Card
- Veterans’ Affairs Gold Card.
This concession is available all year round.
How to apply
Contact the Concessions Information Line on 1800 658 521 (toll-free).
Call GloBird Energy on 13 3456 with your concession card details, and we will check your concession card details with Centrelink and apply the discount to your bill
The Controlled Load Electricity Concession
The Controlled Load Electricity Concession provides a 13 per cent discount on controlled load usage charges. The concession is only available to concession cardholders who are charged a controlled load tariff for separately metered electric hot water or slab heating. These households receive what is known as ‘a controlled load’ or ‘dedicated circuit tariff’.
Households must have a dual element electricity meter or dual element smart meter to be eligible for the Controlled Load Electricity Concession.
This concession was previously called the Off Peak Electricity Concession and has been renamed to make it clear that it is only available to those household that access controlled load tariffs for separately metered electric hot water or slab heating.
The concession is applied on bills issued throughout the year.
To be eligible cardholders must hold one of the following cards:
- Pensioner Concession Card
- Health Care Card
- Veterans’ Affairs Gold Card.
How to apply
Contact the Concessions Information Line on 1800 658 521 (toll-free).
Call GloBird Energy on 13 3456 with your concession card details, and we will confirm your concession card details with Centrelink and apply the discount to your bill.
The Annual Electricity Concession
The Annual Electricity Concession is available to help ease cost of living pressures by providing concession cardholders with a discount of 17.5% off household electricity bills. The concession applies to electricity costs all year round and is calculated based on the remaining account balance once any discounts and/or solar credits have been applied.
To be eligible cardholders must hold one of the following cards:
- Pensioner Concession Card
- Health Care Card
- Veterans’ Affairs Gold Card.
The Commonwealth compensation represents a subsidy of $171.60 for electricity across the year. So for a concession cardholder’s annual electricity bill, the State Government concession will not apply to the first $171.60.
How to apply
Contact the Concessions Information Line on 1800 658 521 (toll-free).
Call GloBird Energy on 13 3456 with your concession card details, and we will check your concession card details with Centrelink and apply the discount to your bill
Winter Gas Concession
Domestic mains gas usage and service costs. The concession is available over the winter period of 1 May to 31 October each year. Contact DHHS for information on the excess gas concession.
Transfer Fee Waive concession
The Electricity Transfer Fee Waive concession waives the fee that is normally payable to electricity retailers when cardholders move house.
To be eligible cardholders must hold one of the following cards:
- Pensioner Concession Card
- Health Care Card
- Veterans’ Affairs Gold Card.
How to apply
Contact the Concessions Information Line on 1800 658 521 (toll-free).
Call GloBird Energy on 13 3456 with your concession card details, and we will check your concession card details with Centrelink and apply the discount to your bill.
Utility Relief Grant Scheme
The Utility Relief Grant Scheme (URGS) provides assistance to low-income households in a financial crisis who aren’t able to pay for a utility account. For more information, and to check your eligibility, visit the Victorian Government’s Utility Relief Grant and Non-Mains Utility Relief Grant schemes web page. You could also contact us on 13 3456 to find out if you meet the criteria and ask about the Utility Relief Grant Scheme (URGS). Our team will be happy to help you apply for the scheme.
Medical Cooling
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Life Support
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Globird Energy Hardship Policy Introduction GloBird Energy understands that electricity is an essential service and that some of our residential customers may on occasion fall into financial hardship. When this occurs, we prefer to work with those customers on an individual basis to see how we can assist them to find ways to repay and… Read More
The NSW Department of Planning and Environment offers a variety of concessions and benefits to eligible cardholders. If you have a relevant concession card, you may be eligible for one of these concessions. Your name must be on the energy account with the concession card details, and be for your principal place of residence.
What concessions are there in NSW?
Gas Rebate is applied as a daily amount on your gas bill. To be eligible you must hold either:
- A Pensioner Concession Card from the Department of Human Services (formerly Centrelink) or the Department of Veterans’ Affairs; or
- A Health Care Card from the Department of Human Services (formerly Centrelink); or
- Gold Card from the Department of Veterans’ Affairs marked with:
- Totally and Permanently Incapacitated or
- Disability Pension or
- War Widow or War Widower Pension
Your name must be on the gas account for supply of natural gas to your principal place of residence. For more information about the NSW Gas Rebate, please visit www.nsw.gov.au
Low Income Household Rebate is $285 (excluding GST) per annum. This rebate is applied as a daily amount on your electricity bill.
The Medical Energy Rebate
The Medical Energy Rebate helps eligible NSW households cover the costs of their energy bills.
The rebate is for NSW customers who have an inability to self-regulate body temperature when exposed to extreme hot or cold environmental temperatures. To be eligible for the rebate, you’ll need to have a diagnosis that you’re unable to self-regulate your body temperature.
To be eligible, the account holder must hold one of the following concession cards:
- Centrelink Pensioner Concession Card
- Centrelink Health Care Card
- Department of Veterans’ Affairs Pensioner Concession Card
- Department of Veterans’ Affairs Gold Card (for recipients of War Widow or War Widower, Totally and Permanently Incapacitated rate or Extreme Disablement Adjustment rate pensions
What you’ll need
- the PDF form – ‘NSW Medical Energy Rebate Application Form Retail Customers’
- your pensioner concession, health care or gold card details
- your personal and contact details
- your medical practitioner to complete and sign the relevant sections of the form
- your energy account details.
How to apply
- Check the eligibility requirements.
- Select the ‘Download PDF form’ button.
- Complete the form.
- Ask your medical practitioner (GP or specialist) to complete and sign the relevant sections of the form.
- Send your completed form directly to your energy retailer.
Family Energy Rebate
The family energy rebate helps low income families pay their energy bills. To be eligible for the NSW Family Energy Rebate, you must:
- Be eligible for the Federal Government’s Family Tax Benefit A or B at any time during the previous financial year, and have received a relevant payment; and
- Be a customer of an electricity retailer, or a long-term resident of a caravan or mobile home park, whose name appears on the electricity account for supply to her/his principal place of residence.
If you’re eligible for this rebate, you can apply online at www.nsw.gov.au
Life Support Rebate
| Service | Price |
|---|---|
| Positive Airways Pressure (PAP) Device | $0.36 for less than 24 hour usage $0.71 for 24 hour usage |
| Enteral feeding pump | $0.44 |
| Phototherapy equipment | $3.68 |
| Home Dialysis | $1.54 |
| Ventilators | $3.68 |
| Oxygen Concentrators | $1.85 for less than 24 hour usage $3.11 for 24 hour usage |
| Total Parenteral Nutrition (TPN) pump | $0.84 |
| External Heart Pump | $0.11 |
| Power wheelchairs for quadriplegics | $0.30 |
Eligible South Australians on low or fixed incomes can apply for help with the cost of energy bills for their principal place of residence.
The Medical Heating and Cooling Concession assists South Australians on a fixed or low income who have a clinically verified medical condition which requires the frequent use of heating or cooling in the home to prevent the severe worsening of their condition.
The concession amount is indexed each financial year. For 2020/21, you may be eligible to receive up to $231.41 to cover energy payments, including fuels used to generate energy (eg LPG bottled gas and petrol).
You must:
- live at the property
- be listed as an account holder on your energy bill
- hold an eligible concession card or receive an eligible Centrelink payment
- not be living with anyone who has an income of more than $3,000 per year, unless they either:
- get an allowance from Centrelink or the Department of Veterans’ Affairs (DVA)
- are your spouse, domestic partner or dependent.
Eligible cards
- Pensioner Concession Card
- DVA Gold Card
- Totally and Permanently Incapacitated (TPI)
- Extreme Disablement Adjustment (EDA)
- War Widow
- issued to a person with 80 or more overall impairment points under the Military Rehabilitation and Compensation Act 2004
- Low Income Health Care Card
- Commonwealth Seniors Health Card
Eligible Centrelink payments
- JobSeeker Payment
- Widow Allowance
- Youth Allowance
- Partner Allowance
- Parenting Payment
- Special Benefit
- Community Development Project (CDP)
- New Enterprise Incentive Scheme (NEIS)
- ABSTUDY
- Austudy
- Farm Household Allowance (FHA)
- War widow pension under legislation of the United Kingdom or New Zealand.
- Email: concessions@sa.gov.au
- Or visit the below link for more information about South Australian concession eligibility
- https://www.sa.gov.au
Eligibility
Rebates are available to people who have any of the below:
- Pensioner Concession Card
- Department of Veterans’ Affairs Gold Card (and receive the War Widow/er Pension or special rate TPI Pension)
- Queensland Seniors Card
- Asylum seeker status—residents will need to provide their ImmiCard details (Electricity Rebate only).
To be eligible, you must be the electricity account holder and also live alone or share your principal place of residence with (only) any of the below:
- their spouse
- other people who hold a Pensioner Concession Card or Queensland Seniors Card
- other people wholly dependent on them
- other people who receive an income support payment from Centrelink, the Family Assistance Office, or the Department of Veterans’ Affairs and who do not pay rent
- other people who live with the cardholder to provide care and assistance, and who do not pay rent.
If you live in caravan park or multi-unit residential building (e.g. apartment), you must also show that your electricity or reticulated natural gas is paid on the basis of metered consumption. If you have a Commonwealth Health Care Card, contact the card issuer for information on eligibility.
How to apply for the rebate
Gas
Contact us on 133456. You will need to provide certain details, so have copies of your bills and concession card handy so you can verify your eligibility. Rebates are automatically deducted from your bill.
Electricity
Contact us on 133456. You can apply over the phone. You will need to provide certain details and have copies of your bills and concession card handy so you can verify your eligibility. Rebates are automatically deducted from your bill.
Or visit the below link for more information about Queensland concession eligibility
https://www.qld.gov.au/community/cost-of-living-support/concessions/energy-concessions